Tag: Shakespeare

Middle Grade Author Barbara Dee Geeks Out About Shakespeare!

Melanie Meadors1

Middle grade author Barbara Dee’s new book ‘Star-Crossed’ has been called “a fine choice for middle school libraries in need of accessible LGBTQ stories and a great option for students reading or performing Romeo and Juliet” by School Library Journal, and having read it, I whole-heartedly agree. The story also has a very engaging voice and a main characters tweens will be able to relate to. I asked Barbara Dee what made her geek out while she was writing ‘Star-Crossed’. Please welcome her to Geek Speaks…Fiction!

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‘Still Time’ by Jean Hegland: Alzheimer’s, Shakespeare, and Gaming

Mariana Ruiz1

Professor John Wilson, a Shakespeare scholar, suffers from dementia and is now in a residential care facility. A visit from her stranded daughter, Miranda (who is an online gamer), proves very difficult to him. His quest to make sense of it all through the Bard, and the plays he has memorized over time, seem an impossible feat. And yet… the words are there to help him along.

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Stack Overflow: End of Summer Recommendations

James Floyd Kelly

I am SO far behind in my book reviews. Not quite as far as Jonathan Liu, though. Heh heh. Sorry, Jonathan. Summer was great! So many books! Not only did I get to read many original novels, I got to revisit some series favorites. But now I find myself staring at my stacks. Again. So… time for some recommendations. I hope that one or more of the books below might catch your interest–and if you’ve read any of them, please let me know what you thought in the comments.

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Stack Overflow: Whittling Down the Collection

James Floyd Kelly

I don’t think I’ve got it quite as bad as fellow GeekDad Jonathan Liu, but occasionally my book stack starts to get a bit high again and I feel the urge to whittle it down a bit. My reading interests are all over the map, and it’s sometimes difficult to grab enough books in a particular genre to review together… so please forgive me for the mishmash of books below, of which I hope at least one or more grabs your interest and proves a worthy purchase.

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Boxed Set

May The Verse Be With You — Shakespeare’s Star Wars Trilogy

James Floyd Kelly

For the last year-and-a-half, I’ve absolutely enjoyed reading Ian Doescher’s retelling of the original Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes IV, V, and VI). Doescher delivered these three stories in a most unique fashion, asking how William Shakespeare might have delivered the tales… and then doing just that. For anyone who has read one of The Bard’s many plays, you know what I’m talking about — iambic pentameter, choruses, and plenty of ‘Tis and Thous.

The first book, Verily, A New Hope, was followed by The Empire Striketh Back and The Jedi Doth Return closed out the trilogy that sung the praises of the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, The Emperor, and, ultimately, the redemption of Darth Vader. Honestly, what story could be more Shakespearean in nature?

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Empire

May the Fourth Be With Thee! A Dose of Star Wars… Shakespeare-Style

James Floyd Kelly

Author Ian Doescher is at it again — he released his latest book back in March, The Empire Striketh Back, a retelling of what is considered by most fans to be the best of the first three Star Wars movies… but written as if Shakespeare had been the scriptwriter. The obvious follow-up to his Star Wars: Verily A New Hope, the book features dozens of scratchboard illustrations including another amazing cover.

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